


C is for Children

by ChokolatteJedi



Series: A to Z After Death (Take 1) [3]
Category: The Others (2001)
Genre: A-Z, Challenge Response, Child Death, Children, Community: 1_million_words, Death, Gen, Ghosts, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-25
Updated: 2013-07-25
Packaged: 2017-12-21 17:05:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/902737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bertha watches and waits</p>
            </blockquote>





	C is for Children

**Author's Note:**

> For the 1 Million Words A to Z challenge: C.

Bertha watched with interest as the days wore on for the small family. Their man was gone, and she knew, even if the mother didn't want to acknowledge it, that he was never coming back. The darkness and the loneliness were weighing on the mother, and she was close to the edge. Bertha had watched, a few hours ago, as the servants had packed up their belongings in the night and fled. She had half a mind to do something about that, but she was unable to leave the manor. The fog that kept her in was the enemy of vengeance. Had she known what those cowardly folk who called themselves servants were going to do, she would have made their departure a misery, but as it was, she could only watch as they disappeared in the night.

It was unseemly, and unfair, for servants to run away in the night like that. For any family it would be a sin, but for this poor woman and her wee mites, unable to give chase... Bertha didn't like to think of herself as a vicious woman, but those cowards deserved worse than the limbo she was trapped in.

The mother was on the edge, Bertha knew. It wouldn't be long until she snapped, and the old nanny had a fair idea of what would happen then. She felt bad, especially for the children, but it couldn't be helped. She couldn't interfere in the mortal world, and usually she didn't want to. Mortal life was complicated enough without interference from the other side. In her mind, living together meant doing one's best not to bother those on the other side. Some things would slip through, and that couldn't be helped, but for the most part, Bertha tried to keep her actions contained to her realm. Goodness knows the poor woman didn't need something like the appearance of a ghost to torture her already strained mind.

Not that a weak person could have the strength to live alone in that dark house with her husband gone, but the oncoming break was weakening her. And the one it would hurt the most would be the children.

Though, Bertha considered, perhaps it was for the best. Though she generally didn't approve of the death of children, the Lord did work in mysterious ways. She also generally didn't approve of diseases that punished a child as greatly as these had been, especially for ones so young and innocent. These two would never see the world, either the good or the evil in it. Surely, in some ways, death would be a mercy. They would never grow up, true, and they would still be stuck on the manor grounds with this impermeable and constant fog, but surely that was better than the omnipresent blackness of their rooms?

It was worth considering.

Once they passed over, Bertha would rouse Lydia and Mr. Tuttle, and they would present themselves to the family. She would love to have some children to care for again, and hopefully she and the others could sort of smooth out the transition for the mother and her children.

She watched calmly as Grace suddenly sat up, and walked on unsteady feet to her children's room. It wouldn't be long now, Bertha knew, and then they would all be together on the other side.


End file.
